On Tuesday, President Joe Biden revealed his plans to implement immediate and substantial limitations on migrants who are seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. This move by the White House is an effort to mitigate immigration as a political disadvantage leading up to the November elections.
The much-anticipated presidential proclamation would prohibit migrants from seeking asylum if US officials determine that the southern border is overburdened. The Democratic president had been considering unilateral action for months following the breakdown of a bipartisan border security agreement in Congress, which most Republican lawmakers had rejected at the request of former President Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential contender.
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Biden stated that he wanted more long-term action through legislation, but “Republicans have left me no choice.” Instead, he stated that he was acting on his own to “gain control of the border” while still reiterating that “I believe immigration has always been the lifeblood of America.”
Donald Trump “told the Republicans… that he didn’t want to fix the issue; he wanted to use it to attack me,” Biden stated. “It was a cynical, extremely cynical, political move and a complete disservice to the American people who are looking for us not to weaponize the border but to fix it.”
Trump, on the other hand, used his social media account to attack Biden again on immigration, claiming the Democrat had “totally surrendered our southern border” and that his order was “all for show” ahead of their presidential debate on June 27.
The directive will take effect when the number of border crossings between ports of entry reaches 2,500 per day, according to senior government officials. That means Biden’s directive should take effect immediately, as the daily averages are now higher. The average daily arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico were last below 2,500 in January 2021, when Biden entered office. The last time border interactions fell to 1,500 per day was in July 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The limits would remain in place until two weeks after the daily encounter numbers between ports of entry are at or below 1,500 per day, based on a seven-day average. The Associated Press first reported the data on Monday.
AP According to Washington journalist Sagar Meghani, President Biden has revealed plans to impose major and immediate restrictions on migrants seeking refuge at the southern border.
Homeland Security stated that heightened enforcement with Mexico since high-level bilateral discussions in late December has reduced illegal crossings but is “likely to be less effective over time,” highlighting the need for additional action. “Smuggling networks are adaptable, responding to changes put in place,” the department stated in a federal rule issued Tuesday.
From July to September, the government expects that arrests for unauthorized crossings will peak at 6,700 per day.
Once this order takes effect, the United States will immediately remove migrants who arrive at the border and do not express fear of returning to their home countries, within days or even hours. Those migrants could face penalties ranging from a five-year ban on reentering the United States to criminal prosecution.
Meanwhile, a US asylum officer will evaluate everyone who expresses fear or an intention to seek asylum, albeit at a higher standard than currently used. If they pass the screening, they can seek more limited types of humanitarian protection, such as the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
“We’re troubled to see this administration raise the bar on asylum seekers who are coming to our southern border and exercising a legal right,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge. “Certainly no one wants to see migrants who may be coming to seek a better life or for economic opportunity in the asylum system, but we see in our clients and in other immigrants people who are fleeing the most dire of circumstances at a time of unprecedented global migration and believe that the U.S. is still a beacon of hope and refuge.”
On Tuesday, there was no outward evidence of immediate consequences at the border.
Iselande Peralta, a Haitian mother who is staying at a migrant shelter in Reynosa, Mexico, with her 3-year-old son, believes the United States is within its rights to impose further limits. She has been attempting for ten months to schedule an appointment through CBP One, the online software developed by US Customs and Border Protection. Peralta, 26, would not consider crossing illegally and believes CBP One is her best alternative.
“Even if I were insane, I would not cross the river. How would I handle that with a child as young as him? “I’m willing to wait,” she replied.
Biden’s decision comes at a time when the number of migrants encountered at the border has been steadily declining since December, but senior administration officials believe the numbers remain too high and could surge in better weather, as is normal.
However, there are still many questions and complexities surrounding the implementation of Biden’s command.
For example, the government already has a deal with Mexico under which it commits to admit up to 30,000 residents per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who are denied entry into the United States, which top administration officials believe will continue under this order. However, the fate of foreign nationals denied entry under Biden’s directive remains unclear.
A lack of congressional funds hinders Biden’s goal of promptly deporting migrants, according to four senior administration officials who insisted on anonymity to discuss the operation with the media. The government also confronts legal limits when it comes to holding migrant families, and it stated that it will continue to comply with those commitments.
Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows a president to block entry for specific migrants deemed “detrimental” to the national interest, gives Biden his legal power. Senior officials indicated confidence in their ability to carry out Biden’s order, despite threats from prominent legal groups to sue over the instruction.
“We intend to sue,” said Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who successfully defended similar legal objections during Trump’s presidency. “A ban on asylum is illegal, just as it was when Trump unsuccessfully tried it.”
Senior administration officials insisted that Biden’s proposal differs significantly from that of Trump, who relied on the same provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act as Biden, including Trump’s 2017 directive to bar citizens from Muslim-majority countries and his efforts in 2018 to restrict asylum.
Biden’s directive enumerates numerous categories of migrants, such as victims of human trafficking, unaccompanied minors, and those in serious medical need, that would receive humanitarian exceptions.
The rule also exempts migrants who use the CBP One app to schedule appointments with border officers at ports of entry. Developed last year to facilitate asylum applications, the software schedules approximately 1,450 appointments daily.
Immigration groups are concerned that Biden’s plan will just add to the already months-long backlog of migrants waiting for appointments through the app, especially if immigration authorities do not receive additional cash.
Border officers may also find it difficult to promptly remove migrants when many agents are already working in shelters and other humanitarian chores, according to Jennie Murray, president of the National Immigration Forum.
“Customs and Border Protection cannot keep up with apprehensions as they are right now because they don’t have enough personnel, so it would cause more disorder,” she stated.
Republicans slammed Biden’s directive as a “political stunt” designed to demonstrate tougher immigration enforcement before the election.
“He tried to convince us all for all this time that there was no way he could possibly fix the mess,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a news conference. “Remember that he engineered it.”
In a call organized by Trump’s campaign, Stephen Miller, a senior adviser in Trump’s White House who oversaw his most divisive immigration policies, and Tom Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Trump administration, said Biden’s order would essentially allow 2,500 people into the country per day and legalize illegal entry into the United States.
“The only reason they’re doing this is because of the election,” Homan stated. “They’ve had three and a half years to take action and done nothing.”
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated that legislation would have been more effective, but “Republican intransigence has forced the president’s hand.”
